


Aftermath

by Ravenloft_Resident



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: 12 golden zodiac keys - Freeform, Aquarius is still gone, after tartaros - Freeform, minus yukino's, the guild finds out about Aquarius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 13:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19395196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenloft_Resident/pseuds/Ravenloft_Resident
Summary: Set after the Tartaros arc, I liked the thought that Lucy stayed back and fixed up the guild. Then, after everyone gets back, they find out about how much Lucy sacrificed for them.





	Aftermath

It had been a few weeks since Fairy Tail had disbanded by Makarov and Natsu had left, and Lucy was still reeling. She had never expected to lose another family, especially not like this. No one had even stayed to keep the guild alive. Everyone had just… given up. When had they ever listened to Makarov anyways? The Fairy Tail she knew never would have left like this. Then again, they had just lost so much… Everyone had. She knew that everyone was hurt, everyone was reeling just as much as she was from the ‘disbandment’ of their guild. No one had known what to do, and with Natsu leaving… they had just decided that maybe it was better for them to go off on their own paths.   
Today found her standing in front of the place where the old guild hall was, clutching Plue to her chest. Everyone had left very quickly after the announcement, with only a few stopping by her a moment to wish her well. Among them had been Wendy and Charle, Gray and Juvia, Erza, Levy, Lily and Gajeel, and a few others. Natsu of course probably didn’t know about the guild being disbanded as he left the day before. The past few nights for her had been spent restless and crying herself to sleep. Over losing her family, over Natsu and Happy leaving, over everything she had lost to this point, over Aquarius. She didn’t blame those who hadn’t stopped by. After all, she hadn’t been there as long as some of them had and they probably just didn’t feel up to it. It still hurt though.

Her spirits had been popping up a lot lately too, telling her that Aquarius was okay and doing well and offering her comfort. Loke in particular had been coming through a lot. All of her spirits knew how much everything that had happened in the past few weeks had hurt her, and they knew that losing Aquarius was one of the hardest things she had ever been put through. Aquarius had been her last link physical link to her dead mother besides the letters she wrote. And the person she had begun to think of as a second father, Master Makarov, had left too. Just like she had lost her dad. In a sense, she had lost both of her parents all over again. Her spirits also found themselves more than a little frustrated that her family had just up and left with barely a goodbye. Didn’t they realize what she had lost in that fight? Didn’t they know how much Lucy was hurting? No, of course they didn’t. Lucy probably wouldn’t have told them either. 

Lucy was thinking about all her memories from her time in Fairy Tail now as she stood in front of the guild. All the good times, and the bad. The battles that they had had, the laughs that they had shared. She thought about all of the missions that she, Natsu, Gray, Erza and Happy had gone on. As she stood there, there was the sound of footsteps behind her and without turning she says, “hello Mayor. To what do I owe the honor today?”

Stopping next to her, the Mayor turns to face her and says, “please, after everything that’s happened, call me Michael. What I came here today is to ask what you want to do now? I heard that Fairy Tail was disbanded, but I didn’t believe it until I saw that everyone but you had left.”

Lucy lowered her head and her bangs covered her eyes. “I don’t know,” she admits, a tear running down her face. “But I know that I can’t let Fairy Tail die like this. Makarov may have thought it was the end of an era, but I know better than that. Whether it be one year or one hundred years, Fairy Tail will be back. I know this isn’t what the first master would have wanted, and I know how much it hurt a lot of our guild members. And when they do return, there’d better be something left for them to come back to. This was our home, my home, and I won’t let it be taken away like this. That’s not how Fairy Tail works. How much would it cost to buy this building/land back?”

The mayor looked considerate. “Well, normally it’d be around 1 million jewel, but…” he hesitated here, “after everything your guild has done for us and gone through, and knowing that once it’s back, there will be plenty of missions that you will all take, I’ll give it to you for 1,000 jewel and we can just agree that a certain percent of every reward will go toward the payment. I refuse to make you pay anymore than 5,000 total jewel for this building. And throw in doing a couple of jobs for me here or there, mainly messenger, escort, or defeating monsters, that sort of thing. Anything you need to rebuild will be free and any help you need just ask and we’ll be there. The entire kingdom is in your debt, this is the least we can do.”

She stared at him, tears in her eyes. Her knees started to wobble and in a flash, Leo was there, holding her waist, supporting her. “I-I-I don’t know what to say,” she stuttered out, tears streaming down her face. 

“The only thing I think my Princess will really need is a way to pay for her house. It’s the small apartment on Strawberry Street,” Leo said, looking at the Mayor. 

He nodded and said, “consider it done. Honestly, we can’t thank you enough for everything you all have done for us and we’re rooting for your return. No one wants it gone. I still can’t believe that Makarov disbanded it like that. Fairy Tail may have caused a lot of trouble in the past, and they may have been the most destructive guild in all of Fiore, but everyone loved them, especially here. This guild has been here longer than many can remember. I don’t remember much of how it was formed, but I know that Fairy Tail has been here since they saved our town. I’m glad at least you stayed to fix it up. It was a sad sight when I came to talk to Makarov and he wasn’t here.”

Lucy nodded mutely, tears of happiness streaming down her face. Leo’s heart soared. Now, she had a purpose, a reason to keep going. He had worried about what his master was going to do after everything that had happened but now, he wasn’t worried in the slightest. Wiping away her tears, she stood up, grinning brighter than the sun. “Thank you so much Michael. You don’t know what this means to me. We’ll get to work right away. If I could just see the old building plans, then at least I would have something to go off of,” she said, happy that she now had a reason, a purpose. 

The mayor nodded and as an afterthought, Lucy added, “though, if you could keep Sorcerer Weekly away from here for a good year or so, that would definitely be appreciated.” 

The mayor nodded and grimaced. While they did put out a lot of good things, they could get rather annoying. “That, I think, we can both agree on. I’ll send a messenger with the blueprints in about one hour,” he says, turning to walk away. 

Lucy nodded and waved and shouted, “thank you so much!”

He waved back and a chuckle was heard. Still grinning, she turned to Leo and said, “have all the zodiacs who can come through their own gates come here please.”

He nodded and disappears, reappearing a second later followed by Virgo, Capricorn, Taurus, Cancer, and Gemini. She then summoned Aries, Sagittarius, and Scorpio. She had to hold back a sob as she realized once again that Aquarius would never join their ranks again, but she stood tall, knowing she had to be strong and knowing that what she was doing was the best thing she could be doing. Looking at her spirits she said, “I don’t know if you heard what’s happening, but I’ve bought back this land and I’m rebuilding the guild. I’m going to need your help to do that. I can’t do it by myself. And, I was going to ask you all if you could help me train myself so that I can summon more of you for longer. I don’t ever, ever want a repeat of Tartaros, so I need to get stronger.” She had a few tears on her face now at the memory of that horrible day.

They looked at her and nodded, smiles coming onto their faces. Capricorn said, “me, Leo and Virgo can take care of setting up a training schedule for you.”

“And all of us will help you rebuild this guild Princess,” Virgo said, her usually stoic face broken by a small smile. 

Lucy smiled, happy tears once again coming to her face. “Thank you so much guys. I have to send those I summoned back now though,” she says to them weakly. 

They nodded at her and she closed their gates. She started to sway a little, obviously exhausted from holding three gates open. Leo caught her as she passed out and fell, but they all felt extremely proud of their princess. She had summoned three spirits and kept their gates open long enough to hold a conversation with them, which was quite a feat. She truly was the strongest celestial wizard. She was also one of the kindest that they had ever met. Having been around for ages, they had all had several masters, and none of them had treated them as she did. They knew she saw them as friends and she treated them as equals instead of toys or shields. Aries and Loke were reminded of the distinct differences between her and Karen, while Gemini and Scorpio thought about how Angel had treated them and what Angel had done to get most of her keys. They were all glad that Lucy had found them, and they knew that the other celestial wizard, Yukino, treated her spirits well. 

Loke says to the others, “I’m going to take her home so she can get some rest. Can one of you wait here to get the blueprints then take them to her house? Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, I know we’re going to need your help with a lot of the heavy lifting, but I know that any help any of us can provide will be enough for her.”

They nodded assent. Lucy still hadn’t awoken by the time Leo arrived at her house, but he knew it was because she had spent a lot of magic holding the three gates open, a feat in and of itself. He gently tucked her in and lingered for a moment. She had gone through so much already. He was immensely glad that she now had a purpose. A reason to keep going, to make it past the pain. Yes, she would struggle with it for a long time, and when everyone returned to Fairy Tail, if anyone did, then it would probably open old wounds. For now though, she would make it. That he was sure of. 

~One Year Later/No One POV~  
It had been a year since her agreement with the Mayor, and with the help of her spirits and a few of the stronger villagers, she had managed to get the guild built within six months, a surprisingly short amount of time, given how big it was. Along the way, she had unwittingly discovered the Lumen Histoire and learned of it’s true nature. She then decided that it was best if, even after everyone got back, no one knew that she knew about it or how to use it, despite not being an official guild master. After finding it, she had proceeded to make it’s location more secure, and if asked about it, she would deny all knowledge of it. It wasn’t something that she wanted to know about, but knew she would never forget. Mavis had been the one to inform her of the nature of it, and helped her decide what to do with the knowledge. She had also been going on many missions for the mayor. She didn’t mind them. In fact, she had actually started to enjoy them. It gave her a chance to put her training to use and allowed her to collect information on her missing guild mates. Her and the Mayor had become fast friends, and she knew that at least now, she had a reliable ally right here in Magnolia.

Over the year, she had gotten a lot stronger from the training she had done with Virgo, Leo and Capricorn. She had full control over all of the powers that had been given to her by Aquarius and the Spirit King. She had also learned how to use the Star Dresses and the powers that came with them, along with several new spells that had been long forgotten as no previous Celestial Wizard had ever reached the level that she had. The spells had been surprisingly easy for her to learn, something that astonished her spirits to no end. There was a reason they were called some of the hardest spells to learn. But here she was, going through them like they were nothing. When asked how she did it, she just put it down to her determination and passion to become as strong as she could. But, despite all of that, she was still grieving. She hadn’t quite gotten over the loss of Aquarius, and it had taken at least a month for her three trainers to get her to use her water powers, let alone not cry while using them. They constantly reminded her that Aquarius would probably sweep her away for being such a ‘crybaby’, but she didn’t care. She just missed her so much. Eventually, she could use them without crying her eyes out, but it still hurt every time she did. 

The six months after the guild hall itself had been finished had been spent making sure that everything was ready for the return of her guild mates. She had lost count of the number of times when she had had entertainment days or bake sales to cover the costs of everything. She had even managed to raise the final 4,000 jewel owed. Between those days, and donations from various people, she had raised more than enough to cover it all. The other thing she had been working on was discreetly getting the guild reestablished and becoming an S-Class mage. She had gone to the magic council and managed to get it re registered and avoid Levy, Gajeel and Lily. She wasn’t ready to see them yet, and they seemed to be doing well enough on their own, so why bother them? She had also managed to succeed on getting her S-Class license and was told that she was practically on the level of Gildarts. 

That was the other thing that she worked on. Keeping tabs on everyone that had been a previous member of the guild. One wall in her room had been covered in a giant map of Fiore and had numerous eyewitness accounts and sightings of her old guild mates. Her travels and the things that Hisui had told her helped a lot with that. Mind you, she hadn’t been able to get info on all of them, some like Gray and Juvia, Erza and Natsu had completely disappeared. Though, she had heard rumours that Erza was working to eradicate dark guilds and was working a loose deal with the Magic Council and that somehow, Gray had infiltrated a dark guild to leak info. Again, just rumors.

Today was special though. It symbolized the one year anniversary since the guild had been disbanded. Technically, she was the only old member currently registered and that was because any new guild needed a guild master and at least nine new members to be considered. So, after talking to her spirits, they agreed to become members of the guild and she grudgingly decided to take the mantle of Guild Master until it could be taken by someone better suited. Namely, Erza or Laxus. Her spirits didn’t mind being members though, as she was strong enough that they could come and go as they pleased. With that, she had also started the rumours that Fairy Tail was coming back. 

She could only hope that her ploy to get people back would work. She knew that it was a long shot, but she hoped that rumours would be enough to start to draw back the old guild members. The only one that she had seen so far had been Gildarts, and he had practically burst into tears when he saw her and heard what she had done. Over the year, various guild members from other guilds had come by to honour the sacrifice the guild had made, and had been shocked to learn of what she was doing. Quatro Cerberus, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale, and surprisingly, Sabertooth had all visited. She had instructed the guilds who had old Fairy Tail members to wait until they felt that the old members had properly recovered. She knew that a lot of them had been hurt, and had suffered a lot, and she didn’t want to rush them. They would recover, just as she like to tell herself she was. 

It had been an odd experience when Sabertooth had come calling however. When Rogue, Sting, Lector, Frosch, and Yukino had come in and Yukino asked her how everything had been going and how she had still been recovering from the battle against Tartaros, she had burst into tears, surprising the Sabers. They were the first she told about what truly happened and Yukino had held her as she cried. Yukino had also shed some tears when she heard what happened to Aquarius. Sting and Rogue had then admitted that they had seen an large figure on their way to help out Fairy Tail. Though nothing was really said between them, she knew that they were amazed by her abilities and what she had done. “You saved us all, and no one knew about it,” Rogue had commented.

She’d just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Once she had collected herself, she smiled at them and had firmly told them that she was recovering just fine, and hoped they had been doing well. The members of Sabertooth had left not too long after that, but she didn’t miss the worried aura they carried or the concerned looks they gave her. She just shrugged them off. She was used to them from her spirits. That was another thing. Her spirits. While she was incredibly grateful to everything they had done, she knew that they understood that while they could be there for her, she would never fully recover until her nakama had come back. 

She was now down in the kitchen, washing up her dishes from breakfast. After her morning routine and stretches were done, she got dressed and opened the doors. What she saw, shocked her. Before her stood a frozen crowd. Her hands flew to her mouth and she gasped, realizing who it was. It was all the members of Fairy Tail. And at the front of them all was…. “Natsu…” she breathed, not believing it. 

At the sound of her voice, everyone’s shocked face turned to her. “Lucy?” Mira asked, shocked to see her. 

“You came back…” she said, tears forming in her eyes. “You actually came back…”

She fell to her knees, finally letting the tears flow. She was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. She stiffened as she recognized who it was. Her eyes flew open with shock and she saw long, salmon colored hair and dark, onyx black eyes staring back at her, full of happiness and warmth. “You’re back…” she murmured accepting the hug. 

After a long moment, she stood up and fully opened the doors, allowing sunlight to flow into the building, making it seem brighter than it had in a long, long time. “Welcome back,” she said, smiling at them, tears still in her eyes. 

Natsu grinned his wide, toothy grin and said, “thanks for looking after the guild Lucy. I knew you would.”

There was then a loud cheer and she was engulfed in a gigantic group hug. After many, many thank you’s and a lot of sobbing, she was finally released and managed to find a table to stand on. “Well, I’m really, really glad you’re all back!” She said, looking at everyone. “But now, I need you guys to decide something. We need to pick a guild master. I’ve been filling that position since I got us re registered as an official guild, but I feel that either Laxus or Erza should take the mantle.”

Everyone stared at her, jaws dropping as what she said sank in. “Lucy, don’t you need at least nine guild members to officially start a guild?” Levy asked, stepping forward. 

“Nice to see you again Levy!” Lucy said, smiling at her. “And yes, it’s true. You do need to have at least nine new members. Lucky for me, there were already nine right here.”

There were nine flashes of light around her and everyone gawked as they saw that her spirits had come out. They were so awed in fact, that they didn’t notice that there was one spirit missing from the ranks. Leo smiled at them all and said, “nice to see you guys again!” 

Once again, everyone was cheering and Lucy got enveloped in a giant guild wide hug. She couldn’t stop the happy tears from streaming down her face as the fact that all her guild mates were back. Even Laxus and the Raijinshuu were standing near the back, grinning. Erza spoke up, blushing and said, “I don’t think I could take over the mantle. Honestly, I think you should keep it Lucy.”

Said individual gawked at her and said, “nah-ah! No way in hell. Way too much work, and I want to be able to go on missions once in a blue moon. Besides, I’m too nice to deal with all of the trouble and damage I know you’re going to cause.”

With that said, Lucy walked over to Laxus and grinned up at him while asking, “so, since Erza doesn’t want to, how do you feel about becoming the official Seventh Guild Master?” 

He looked considerate for a moment before shrugging and saying, “fine by me I guess.”

She smiled even wider and said, “well, there you have it! Everyone, say hello to our seventh guild master, Laxus Dreyar!”

The cheering increased and she said, “now, in traditional Fairy Tail fashion, I say we have a party! Don’t worry Cana, there’s enough booze to last you a day or so here!” The cheering went from loud to thunderous, and all over the town, people were grinning. They knew that Fairy Tail was finally back. All thanks to Lucy Heartfilia. 

The party went on through the night. And, in a surprising turn of events, Sabertooth showed up and was shocked to see that everyone had returned. They smiled at each other, knowing that this had been Lucy’s doing. Natsu was the first to make their presence known. It was quiet for a moment as people turned to look at the new arrivals, but they went back to partying as quickly as they stopped. They looked around, hoping to see Lucy, but, surprisingly, they didn’t. They walked over to the bar, where they saw Cana, Laxus, Mira, Erza, Gray, Juvia, Natsu, Levy and Gajeel sitting. “Has anyone seen Lucy?” Sting asked, still looking around. 

They looked a little confused as to why he was asking for her, but looked around with him. “I don’t see her anywhere,” Erza said eventually, sounding more than a little shocked. 

“She’s sleeping in her office. Different from the Guild Master’s don’t worry Laxus,” they heard Leo and turned to see him walking towards them. 

“Why’s she sleeping at a time like this?” Natsu asked, standing up to go and get her. 

But, that’s when Leo’s face turned sad and a little dark. “Don’t,” he said, holding out his arm to stop the pink haired boy. “While she is glad that everyone is back, she needs time to deal with it.”

Those at the bar looked at him, confused. All except for the Sabertooth members that is. “Ah,” Yukino said, understanding immediately. “We’ll be going then. Tell Lucy we’ll probably visit in a month or so then.”

Leo nodded and waved as they left. “So, what’s up with Bunny Girl?” Gajeel asked, taking a drink from his beer.

Leo sighed and said, “you know, some of the spirits are having a really hard time being nice right now. We’re only being so nice because Lucy told us to. However, I have a bone to pick with you.”

Everyone looked at him, confused. “What’s wrong Loke?” Gray asked, wondering what had happened in the past year.

“You guys are what happened!” He exploded. 

Their jaws dropped. They had never heard the lion spirit yell like that. Taking a deep breath, he continued, “you have no idea how angry we were with all of you, especially you Natsu, for the first few months. You guys just up and left after Makarov disbanded the guild. He’s someone else we are going to have words with. But how could you? How could you just leave her like that?! After everything you guys have been through together, how could you just up and leave with barely anything for a goodbye? Did you not consider what that would do to Lucy? And you Natsu,” he rounded on Natsu then, his fists shaking with anger, “how could you just leave a note and disappear like that? I understand that you needed time to deal with losing your dad all over again, and that you felt that you needed to train so that you could be stronger and protect everyone, Lucy in particular, better, but did you not stop to consider how you just up and leaving would affect Lucy? Did you not stop to consider that maybe, you weren’t the only one who had lost someone precious to them? That you weren’t the only one in pain?”

Leo’s voice had steadily gotten louder and louder until the whole guild around them was silent. “DID ANY OF YOU EVEN QUESTION HOW SHE SAVED YOU?!” He roared, his entire frame shaking with an anger they were unfamiliar with. 

Virgo walked up to him quickly and said, “big brother, go. It was a year ago at this point and everyone was hurting. There’s nothing they are really at fault for.”

“But they hurt Lucy! They just left with barely a goodbye! They didn’t even stay behind after Makarov made that decision! What happened to not listening to Makarov when we know he’s in the wrong?” Loke said, still fuming. 

“We all understand that Leo, but the past is the past, we must let it lie,” Virgo said, trying to reason with him. 

“Wait, what are you talking about Loke?” Natsu asked. “Yeah, I do regret not saying more of a goodbye, but I left so I could get stronger and I was afraid she would want to come with me and that I wouldn’t be able to say no.”

“Lucy seemed fine when we said goodbye,” Levy said, suddenly very concerned for her friend. 

Leo looked sharply at Levy and said, “don’t you realize that she always seems fine? She stays happy around you guys because she always feels that your problems are more important than her own, no matter what she’s going though!”

“What do you mean, did any of us ask how she saved us?” Gray asked, very confused. 

Leo was taking deep breaths, attempting to calm himself. “During the fight with the 9 Demon Gates, Mard Geer cast a spell that kept you all entangled in a red goop that was intended to kill all of you. Somehow though, Lucy survived and wasn’t sucked in. Mard Geer then made an announcement that anyone who killed Lucy would get promoted to a member of the 9 demon gates after the defeat of Ezel. As you can imagine, many went after her. A flood of water came in, and Lucy rode on a piece of wood to stay afloat. She summoned Sagittarius to help her, but eventually, she was fighting Lamy, Torafuzar and Jackal all at once,” he said, his fists still clenched. 

Everyone gawked at him. She had faced two of the 9 demon gates and the woman who regenerated them all at once? Leo continued, “Sagittarius was forced to leave, then she summoned me and Virgo, though we could tell that her magic power was running low. She had been using Fleuve d’Etoile to that point, with requires magic energy to use properly. When it seemed hopeless for us, she summoned Aquarius. We yelled at her not to, she was far to low in magical power to have been able to do something like that. By some miracle however, Aquarius appeared. You need to understand that it takes an incredible amount of magical power to summon one Gold Key spirit, let alone three. Me and Virgo were forced to leave, leaving her and Aquarius alone. At that point, there was one thing that Lucy could do. Summon the Celestial Spirit King.”

“I didn’t know old Stache Face had a key!” Natsu said, confused as to how she summoned him. 

The celestial spirits who could hear him grimaced and Leo continued, “that’s because he doesn’t. In order to be summoned, a celestial wizard must meet a few requirements. First, she has to be able to hold open three gates at once. The second…” Leo trailed off. Not able to continue. 

“The second is that a key must be broken,” Virgo continued, staring at them all. 

“But, Lucy would never break a key! She loves all of her spirits too much!” Gray protested. 

The rest of the guild, who were listening now, nodded. They didn’t know what had happened during the fight but one second they had been in the air, the next the ship had crashed and they were waking up surrounded by a red substance. “You’re exactly right. But when Aquarius pressured her and told her the situation exactly as it was, she had no choice. All of us were screaming for it to be us. It could have been any of us, but it ended up being Aquarius. She was crying, so hard. The both of them were, we knew. Even Aquarius, who always said that she hated Lucy and would be glad to be rid of her was upset. She cared for her master, who she had gotten after Layla died. Then, she got some of Aquarius’s water powers, and used Urano Metria to defeat Jackal. To top it all off, not even a week later, she lost her family. The ones who said they always stuck together, through thick and thin. You all abandoned her, right when she needed you the most. And you barely even said goodbye. Some of you not even a goodbye,” Leo said, finishing the story. 

The guild felt shame and horror settle through them. “She still cries sometimes. You don’t know how hard she worked to get this guild back. There were nights when she barely slept, days when she didn’t eat. Because even though she had the support of the town, she didn’t have the support of her nakama. Her mom had died, her dad passed away before they could make amends, Aquarius, the one out of all of us who she saw as a parent figure and who was the last physical link to her mom, was lost in battle, Makarov, who she thought of as a second father, disbanded this guild and left. And then, you left, with barely any words to her, not even asking if she was really okay. She had gone through so much, but she still kept smiling when people were around. She kept going, because she told herself that she had to, so that when Fairy Tail came back, there would be a place for them to go. She was so set in her belief that Fairy Tail would come back. And as much as her spirits wanted that too, we were still angry with all of you,” Leo said, glaring at them. 

“W-we d-didn’t know,” Erza stuttered, horror on her face. 

“That’s right. No one knew. And I doubt she would have said all that to you, but you needed to know,” Leo said, turning away and disappearing. 

The other spirits quickly disappeared. There was a long silence before they all jumped when a voice said, “I’m sorry about him. He was a little angrier than the rest, having been a member of the guild longer than the rest and knowing a lot of you personally.” 

They looked and saw a tired looking Lucy yawning at the bottom of the stairs. She was just finishing a stretch and yawned again when suddenly, Happy barreled into her, burying his face in her chest and crying, “I’m so so so so sorry Lushi!!! We just left and didn’t say anything to you!”

She looked at him, surprised, and said, “Happy, it’s not your fault. You have nothing to apologize for.” 

“But we all do,” Natsu said, standing in front of her.

She just stared at him, confused and he continued by saying, “we all left when you very clearly needed us. We were all so wrapped up in our own troubles that we couldn’t see what was right in front of us. We were blinded by our own pain that we ignored that of the others around us.”

She just shook her head and smiled while saying, “that doesn’t matter. You're back now and that’s what counts. Yeah, what happened really hurt, and I’m still trying to get over the loss of Aquarius, but in the end, everything turned out okay. You all survived and that’s what matters. I know that she isn’t dead, just gone in the celestial spirit world. Sure, there’s no chance of a new key for her ever being forged, but I know that she’s always here with me. She’s always watching over me, and we can send each other messages through the rest of my spirits and for my services to the kingdom and the Celestial Spirit World, I have been given permission to visit the Celestial Spirit world once a week. It helps with my training and I get to see her again. I have to stay strong, no matter what. And that’s okay with me. I’m coping, and this tattoo is helping.”

They gawked as she lowered her shirt and they saw the tattoo they remembered the Water-Bearer spirit having on her chest. “H-how can you say that?” Levy asked, her lips trembling.

Lucy laughed. “Because I moved on a long time ago. Yeah, it still hurts sometimes, and while you guys were gone, it was hard for me to keep it together sometimes, but I made it. And that’s what matters. And now, you guys are back, so what does the past matter? Yeah, shit happens, but if all we do is focus on that, then we’re going to get nowhere with our lives,” Lucy set Happy down and grabbed Levy’s hands.

“B-b-but your spirits… they’re so mad at us…” Levy sobbed out. 

Lucy just chuckled and pulled the bluenette into a hug. “Don’t worry about it Levy. They care a great deal about me and feel very defensive against people who hurt me. It’s just the way they are, especially since for a lot of them, I’m the first master they’ve ever had who didn’t treat them as shields or as toys,” she explained, comforting the upset girl.

Levy just nodded shakily. “O-okay,” she said, lips still trembling. 

Lucy beamed and said, “are we good now?” 

Levy nodded, a watery smile finally appearing on her face. “Y-yeah,” Levy said.

Lucy wrapped her arm around Levy’s shoulders, turned to face the guild, and asked, “is anyone having trouble wrapping their heads around it?” 

The guild shook their heads, amazed at the way that Lucy had dealt with it. “Well, then, what are we waiting for? We should be partying!” She said, grinning madly at them. 

They nodded and started cheering again, glad that they were finally home. As they were partying and drinking, Lucy heard a shout from in the back. “Hey Lucy! What’s this?”

She felt a jolt, remembering what she had been working on for the past several months. She heard a dragging sound and slowly turned to see Happy and Natsu dragging her board out of the backroom where she had thought she kept it secure. She felt her stomach drop as once again, the guild went quiet. “Lucy… what is that?” Erza asked from beside her.

“Did you all really think that just because the guild had disbanded, and everyone went their own separate ways that no one cared anymore? Fairy Tail is a family, and there was no way I wasn’t going to make sure that everyone was okay. You’d be surprised what people will help you with when you make friends with them. Jason was more than willing to help me gather information on the members of this guild so that when the day came that I knew it was time to bring everyone home, I’d be able to do that,” Lucy said, not looking at anyone. 

There was an incredible silence before Levy said, “Lu-chan…. Why didn’t you call people back sooner? We were out there wandering, waiting, looking for a place to stay for a whole year. Yes, many of us found jobs and temporary homes, but we weren’t truly home, not until we came back to Fairy Tail.”

“I didn’t call anyone back for a few reasons. First of all was I was giving you all some space to recover from everything that had happened. Secondly, I was still recovering not only from losing my guild, but also losing a spirit whom I had known from birth and third…. There was a lot of work to be done around here. It took six months and 5,000 jewel to build this place back up again with help from my spirits and the townspeople. You wouldn’t believe the number of debts that Makarov left unattended. I worked the entire year to pay them off,” Lucy said, still not looking at anyone. 

The silence was profound. No one knew what to say, partly because they knew that there was nothing they could say. “What about your team?” Natsu asked. 

A sobbed laugh escaped her lips. “My team? You mean you? You who vanished without a trace the day before the guild disbanded with only a note? Or do you mean Gray, who had just lost his father whom he hadn’t even know existed until that point and needed to leave? Or Erza, who went after Jellal and did Mavis knows what over the past year? My team was gone Natsu. Gone. And you can’t say a damn thing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are a few things that I need to clear up from Laxus’s new office,” and with that, Lucy got up and walked away, leaving a stunned guild behind her. 

“She’s right,” Erza said after a long moment of silence.

“About what?” Natsu asked, looking dejected at the floor. 

“We weren’t there. Everyone was gone. I wonder how long it took for her be able to come to this place without being overwhelmed by memories….” Erza said, trailing off.

“She came to the spot where the guild had been everyday at noon and broke down. After that, she immersed herself in work and training. She paid off all debts in the first three months after that,” Mavis said, looking sad. 

“Master Mavis!” Everyone cried. 

She smiled at them and said, “hello everyone! It’s good to see you all back safely!”

“What do you mean she paid it all off? How?” Mira asked, knowing how much the guild had owed.

“Well, she did bake sales, took jobs from the mayor, helped out some other guilds, the like. She also hosted open bar days to make money from that. And though she won’t admit it, she did go to some underground fight clubs. She never outright said it, but I remember this town how it used to be and the number of nights I’d find her passed out in her office covered in bruises or freshly bandaged cuts… it was heartbreaking,” Mavis said, sad once again.

Wendy stood up angrily and shouted, “why didn’t anyone stop her? That can’t have been healthy!”

Mavis just chuckled. “No one wanted to. We knew that she needed an outlet, and she just happened to find her in honing her skills at an underground fight club, beating up people so she could forget everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if she goes again tonight,” she said. 

The guild was quiet again for a long while, before everyone came to a quiet consensus that Lucy was going to be okay, and that they needn’t worry about her, especially with her team back. The noise level gradually rose in the guild, signalling the party was back on. They knew that she would be fine, like she always was. They were all just grateful for everything that she had done. Little did they know, that was the mindset that had made her spirits hate them in the first place. Team Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, Levy, and Exceeds looked at each other and decided that they were going to follow her. Maybe they'd learn something, anything, that would help them understand, that would help them learn better what their mistakes had done. 

They weren't prepared for what they were going to see next.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhh! A cliff hanger!! I'm so mean lol   
> (There will most likely be a follow up at some point)  
> Hey guys! It's your local Ravenloft Resident! I hope you guys enjoyed this and my other works so far! I've seen a lot of different fanfics set after this particular arc, so I thought I'd post my own ideas! Right now, it's a little short so there's a high chance I'll end up doing some editing to make it longer. I'll drop a note at the top when that happens! I hope you guys liked this! As always, let me know what you think! 
> 
> Love you all!


End file.
